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Uthonian Swarm
The Uthonian Nexis is a vast and enigmatic hive-mind that inhabits a region of space close to the center of the Peritania galaxy. The primary species called Uthon are arthropod in nature, this is due to their many similarities with the ants of Sol III (earth).While this hive appears to be aggressive in nature, they tend to keep to themselves and avoid conflict unless necessary. This hive was first discovered in 2293 by a deep space exploratory science vessel, and made contact with our agents for a brief time. Isolationist in nature this hive has elected to close it’s space off to all “singled”. As such there is little knowledge on the details of the hives inner functions. What we can conclude is from wreckage, interactions, and wars with them. History: Pre-FTL: In the time before the Overmind, the Uthon’ were a rapidly developing, rapidly evolving species. Consisting of several eusocial entities, there was constant competition for resources. Death, War, Famine, and pastilance were all commonplace across the Uthonian home world, or Elaam. The fighting persisted, and despite only having primitive medieval technology, the planet was almost entirely stripped of its resources to fuel the ever growing war engines of the Uthonian conquest. Queen birthers were constantly and consistently birthing and laying larva at all hours of the day. These larvae would mature quickly and fully dedicate themselves to learning specific skills based on their birth role. Driven by pheromones and pressure from all aspects of the societies that were present on Elaam, the drones almost had no other choice than to fight. They only ceased when the consequences of continuing would mean the ruin of everything that they had known. Eventually the fighting got so brutal that the polygamous queens of a now forgotten entity banded together to form massive armies and methods to stabilize the planet. Using the same weapons and tactics that had been known for what seemed like an impossible amount of time, the chains of the final Uthonian war began their motion. With so many drones fighting all at once, the already strained resources of the planet began to fully disappear. The race was truly on, and time was against the species as a whole. All queens knew this, and thus began to increase the already rapid life and death cycle of the drones. This had led to genetic abnormalities within the new spawn. Most of these abnormalities were not helpful, others caused premature death. However, of all the strife and difficulties to come, a form of psionic telepathy was formed in a select few drones. These drones were then bread en mass with the queens in the hope of creating an army of superior drone warriors. These actions lead to the creation of the Overmind. A vast and powerful telepathic network between the drones of Elaam, that soon was able to conquer and overwhelm others. These other eusocial entities were conquered and used as material to unify the others on the world in peace. In the wake of the existence of the Overmind, the Uthonians now had a powerful memory,something that would greatly benefit their species, and cause their greatest problems. The Overmind appeared 2355 years ago, and the planet of Elaam, now called “First Synapse”, has flourished and been uplifted to something beyond even its primal state. The benefits of the vast Overmind allowed the drones to see both the large and small picture of their existence, and thus exactly where they fit in and why they must obey. Despite this however, the drawbacks have been proportional to the benefits. The Overmind remembers all, and thus it remembers the hardships of the Uthonian’s during their eusocial period. The pain of a sword cutting a gaster, fire torching the skin and shell of the drones, and the pain of being starved to death and left to rot with the pestilence that came in the wake of an invading army. Thus a repeating thought occurs in the Overmind, the driver of the species and the philosophy that the hive now follows to this day, “There can only be prosperity and peace through unity of body, spirit, and mind. There must be unity undivided.” There was finally peace on Elaam, plentiful food, comfort and prosperity for all dornes. This new found bloom caused an explosion in population, the likes the species had never seen before. The vast collective, concerned for its survival from overcrowding looked to the stars. Astronomy and the sciences rapidly improved, the species going from medieval times to a space faring civilization in an incredibly short amount of time. Soon subspace travel was realized, and systems surveyed. Many planets were potential canadids, but few would satisfy the Overmind. Eventually colonization began and new xeno species were discovered. The hive paid little attention at first, but soon found that they were potential threats to their eternally blooming unity. Galactic History: With memories of the pain, anxiety, and what can be described as mood swings, the hive quickly brought itself to action. Emassing fleets, and armies to protect itself from the xeons. The Overmind had no intention of destroying them however, instead the horus of thought went back and reminded the collective of how they achieved such greatness. The hive knew what it had to do in order to maintain peace and prosperity for the new community, unification was the only option. The other species were viewed as little more than violent beasts that needed to be tamed, if unable to tame them, they would be converted into nutrients for the growing swarm. As the military and defenses of the Uthonian Nexus grew, so did the influence of the military drones on the Overmind. The once influential science and economic drones that had lead the prosperity of the hive were all but pushed aside. The military drones now having a majority control called the shots. All other drones were helpless but to obey, unity undivided brought them this far, why would it fail now? Structure Overmind: Unlike most of the biological organisms that exist in the galaxy, the Uthonian Nexus has a secondary consciousness to it. This is referred to as the “Overmind” by the drones. In interviews with “Representative Drones” we have come to learn that the Overmind acts in a similar manner as a hyper forum for the drones, and exerts the will of the collective on any given drone. Further interviews have found that the more a drones access the overmind the more likely they are to become “Autonomous” in that the particular drone will get a higher degree of free will than their counterparts, thus allowing for more advanced decision making without input from the Overmind. Furthermore it has been found that drones who cannot connect to the overmind revert to a more primitive and violent state, or become completely comatose. It has also been determined that temporary access to the overmind without full assimilation by the hive will result in a permanent case of dementia, schizophrenia, alzheimer's, or some other from of madness for the individual It has been observed that the close presence of a psionic ability of an individual may disrupt the Overmind’s connection with an individual drone. Thus causing the drone itself to act out in an unpredictable manner. When interviewed a drone said that, “Static on our mind...static on my mind…(screaming noises)” (Menial Drone, 2254). It is unsure if the drones experience pain at the loss of a connection to the Overmind or a heightened level of anxiety. Drones: While the hive may refer to its people as “drones” it is in no way meant to be an offensive term. Indeed it has been found that many drones like being called a drone or don’t care entirely. According to a mining drone interviewed, “A pickaxe would not be offended for being called what it is, a highly useful tool for the job of mining” (mining drone, 2254). There are several classes of drone, each tailored to the job that they will have that is assigned to them before birth. While the Overmind has almost total control over the drones, they still exhibit a form of personality, albeit related to their job. Interviews with several drones have revealed that they are almost incapable of talking about anything that does not relate to their job. While there are a great deal of generic drones, there are a few that are highly specialized, and have specific genetic attributes to account for this. Many drones have also have a mutually beneficial relationship with a brainslug species that allows them to perform highly complicated tasks with less interference from the overmind. Drones have a naturally short life cycle, reaching sexual maturity by age 4, and full adulthood by age 12. Naturally due to the rapid death of drones, the population of the hive evolves rapidly. There is a high turnover rate for life to death in the hive, and it is estimated that they have about a 75% higher birth rate than most species. Female drones can be impregnated by multiple males at a time, thus leading to a high genetic diversity in the species. It has been found that the primary job of the female drones is impregnation and birth, for those too old to give birth they help tend to the spawning pools. ''Brain Drones: Thes drones are mostly just giant heads and little else. Their primary function is to run scientific calculations for the hive, as well as conceive of new technologies. Most bodily functions are handled by other menial drones so that they will never stop their current task. While there are autonomous brain drones for the various fields of science (Physics, Engineering, Biology), there are less autonomous drones serving underneath them. Additional probing has found that these drones are of the few that can actually get a sunburn if they go outside, and for whatever reason, all particularly enjoy “nutrient apple flavor 0112358”. ''Army Drones: While all drones are created for their environment, we will outline here a basic Army Combat Drone. These drones have a mix of biological weaponry as well as conventional weapons. A standard Army drone has several redundant organs and repressed survival instincts. These drones have also been observed to be highly aggressive towards their targets. Examination of Army Drone corpses have revealed that they have a much thicker exoskeleton and what appear to be sword like growths on their forearms. Many reports have stated that these Army Drones will have the ability to explode in an acidic explocion to damage or blind the enemy at their own expense. This acid is highly corrosive and has been shown to be able to temporarily disrupt energy shielding and eat through fairly heavy armored plating, though the range of the explosion is limited to extremely close quarters. The kit that these drones seem to carry includes a semi-auto/ auto spike rifle, 3 highly explosive shrapnel grenades, 1 chemical grenade, 3 extra “magazines”, Some form of ballistics armor (based on the fight they are in), 1 high power sidearm (stellaris equivalent to a .500 magnum). For drones with brain slugs, there is an additional shoulder mounted turret that is controlled by the slug. Furthermore, these drones seem to have a higher density of muscle mass than a standard menial drone would. The Army Drones have vehicles only in a vague sense, as machines such as tanks, transports, and other military vehicles are artificially manufactured but connected and controlled directly by a small team (2-3) of drones. For all intents and purposes, vehicles are to be considered separate drones from the rest of the military, a combination of drone and machine.This goes for both ground and void vehicles. The exact specifications of the workings of these vehicles are unknown outside of the hive. ''Birther Drones: One of the most important drones in the hive are the Birther Drones. With each drone being able to birth up to 10 new drones at a time, their biological frame is withered to reproductive organs and little else. It takes about 3 months from impregnation to reach full maturity. These drones are cared for by Menial Drones, and other Spawning Pool Drones. These drones once unable to birth new larva become assigned to Spawning Pool duty, where they tend to the incubation chambers, and larvae. These drones primarily live in small chambers lining the breeding pits on the Uthonian’ planets, and regularly gather new biological material to produce specific drones as they are needed. ''Autonomous Drones: These drones can almost entirely think for themselves and can make highly complex decisions without the oversight of the rest of the hive. There is an extremely limited number of these drones and they are difficult to replace, due to the complex genetic makeup that it takes to create one. There is estimated to be 13 of these drones in the entirety of the hive. Military: The various navyies or combat swarms of the Nexis are mostly comprised of cruisers/ carriers and various types of corvettes. Analyzing the debris from the various battles shows that the corvettes are outfitted for close range combat with various autocannons and plasma throwers. They appear to be equipped with boosters to close vast distances in a short amount of time. These corettevs dubbed by the hive as “Puff and Sting” class have a counterpart of heavy cruisers. While these cruisers have heavy weapons attached and are made for long ranged combat, that does not appear to be their purpose. Review of combat footage has shown that these ships are designed closer to carriers, releasing swarms of smaller strike craft to support the corvettes. Each “Combat Swarm” is commanded by an autonomous “Admiral Drone” each seemingly with their own ideas of how to win the battle. While the main strength of the Uthonian Nexis’ armed forces seems to be the ground units, the Navy is not to be overlooked. Many vessels have been quickly overrun with the sheer number of ships at the Nexis’ disposal. A particular favorite strategy of the Uthonian’s is to distract local system guns with their Combat Swarms and land overwhelming numbers planetside. Often times this ends up critically damaging the enemy economy and their ability to support prolonged warfare. Thus weakening them enough for the remaining Combat Swarm to overpower most stations and opposing navy’s. While it has been a popular strategy to fortify defences so the Uthonian navy cannot pass the border, there are unconfirmed reports that they have developed jump drives that could completely bypass these blockades. Fleet Composition: Not much can be said for how the Uthonian’s divide up their fleets, as sensors cannot reach to the point in their hive where they keep them. However, study of debris from various battles and sensor arrays from when they have moved their swarms shows us insight into the make-up of how they operate with their navy. It is found that a vast majority of their ships are designed for Close quarters combat and are outfitted to perform optimally as such. Advanced afterburners, and close range weapons are all standard issue on Uthonain combat vessels. The following classes of known ships with confirmation on specs are listed below. ''Puff n’ Sting: The corvette class codenamed “Puff n’ Sting” is a small fast space faring vessel that is outfitted with 2 ripper auto cannons, and a plasma thrower. While armor tends to vary based on enemy fleets, it is theorized, though not confirmed, that these vessels have 2 instances of plasteel armor and 1 instance of some form of shield. These ships also seem to fitted with afterburners and advanced “Swarm computers”. Through debis scanning by our science ships we have determined that the Puff n’ Sting class corvette compromises a great deal of the Uthonian navy. ''Enforcer: This corvette class codenamed “Enforcer” is an agile torpedo space craft. Outfitted with a single laser and a primary torpedo launcher, this corvette seems to act as a form of crowd control for enemy vessels, picking of anything that tries to flank. The armor and equipment composition is similar to Puff n’ Sting class corvette. ''Bastille:'' This is a destroyer class ship codenamed “Bastille”. This ship is less agile than the previous corvettes, and thus is an easier target for medium and small weaponry. However, this ship does not have a hard offensive function to it, none that can be determined anyway. Outfitted with several instances of point defence and flak artillery, it would suggest that this ship performs a defensive role for the fleet as a whole, in protecting other ships from incoming fire. With 3 instances of armor and shielding this defensive ship can take more damage than any of the corvette classes. Uthonian Worlds The Uthonian Nexus occupies the following worlds #First Synapse #Second Synapse #Third Synapse #Fourth Synapse #Fifth Synapse #TEXAS Trivia: #The “overmind” is the organic equivalent of the internet, where the individual act as computers. #Even though they are a hive mind, individuals have a “partial personality” where their personality and emotions are dictated by the job they are assigned at birth. Ex: A drone that was born to farm, loves farming. #All members of the hive have memories of being at war, specifically how it physically feels. #The hive’s favorite food is Nutrient Apples. Vitamins, Minerals, Protein, and other nutrients, all pressed into the shape of an apple. #Total of 400 Cal/ Apple. #All species that are “consumed” in Stellaris are made into Nutrient Apples. #The current incarnation of the Overmind views other species the same way humans view animals. #First Synapse is located in a trinary star system. #There was a birthing world for the hive, the whole planet is covered in orgy pits and birthing hospitals...those outsiders who travel there die of a broken pelvis. #Small teams of drones are lead by individuals with autonomy, they usually have the most personality. #The more a drone access the overmind, the more autonomous it will become. Category:Nations